If you haven’t put your best effort towards a project because you’re afraid of failing this is for you.
In situations like these we crave certainty, and luckily I can tell you with absolute certainty what will happen if you try to build something perfect the first time.
You. Will. Fail.
That’s okay, it’s good actually! Because now at least now you have certainty that you’ll never get it perfect on the first try.
Nothing great was build on the first try. If there’s a company you admire, use the Wayback Machine to take a look at the first version of their website. Every one of them was terrible!
It’s not about building something perfect the first try, it’s about getting started early and iterating.
The perfect product, business, body, relationship, or life can’t be built right away. Anyone who want perfection today, really just wants the fruits of perfection without any of the work.
And perfection in your mind isn’t the same as perfect in reality. Your dream life might really be a nightmare! Imagine spending 6 months building a product (that you know is perfect) only to find out no one wants it. Or trying for years to get the “perfect body” only to find out it takes constant attention to maintain.
You have to work towards something, review it, and start again. You have to iterate.
I want to say clearly that this is not a message against trying. It’s also not a message against perfection. It’s a message against trying to be perfect on your first attempt!
Perfection is almost impossible without iteration. It’s impossible for us humans, with so limited knowledge, to build a product everyone loves without ever talking to anyone first and iterating on their feedback. It’s impossible for us to build the perfect morning routine without ever failing at one first.
(Yes, at one point I thought getting up at 5am would solve all my problems. Failing to get up that early turned out to be perfect for me.)
If you want perfection, you have to start with imperfection. If you want to move forward, you have to iterate.